It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! We are in the middle of winter, yet there is barely any evidence of it on the ground. The rest of the USA is blanketed in snow and ice, while we are looking at grass with just a skiff of snow in the shady areas.
TRAGIC NEWS: The following is a news story from our local newspaper about one of my grown-up Boy Scouts.....
01/07/2001........... By JAY PATRICK............ The Daily Herald
MUGGED MISSIONARY IMPROVING
PROVO -- Elder Burke Jensen, an LDS missionary brutally attacked last Tuesday in one of Dallas' highest crime neighborhoods, is making unexpected improvement.
Jensen and his parents, Jack and Joy Jensen, are from Orem.
Neurologist Dr. David Barnett, at the Baylor Medical Center, said Jensen started making "purposeful response" Saturday morning, including moving a finger when asked and attempting to say his name. He also began breathing on his own after being removed from a respirator Saturday.
"I thought his brain was going to swell and we would have to do surgery," Barnett said. "I thought it was going to get worse instead of better."
"That there's been no further deterioration is phenomenal," Joy Jensen said from Dallas on Saturday. "They've (medical staff) said to me that they just don't see this."
Barnett said Jensen could soon be transferred to a less-concentrated level of the Intensive Care Unit.
When brought to Baylor after the mid-afternoon assault Tuesday, Jensen had several skull fractures above his left ear with extensive swelling and internal bleeding. His elbow was also broken when he apparently raised his arm in defense. The injuries were caused by multiple blows from a baseball bat.
An undetermined number of men jumped from a van and flashed a gun before beating and robbing Jensen of $30. Jensen's companion, Elder Jason Mortensen, fled, escaping serious injury.
While the early improvements in Jensen's condition are encouraging, Barnett said it will be 2-4 weeks before they start to get an idea about what damage has been done. At this point, Jensen could make a full recovery with therapy, or be permanently incapacitated, to an unknown extent, on the right side of his body.
Joy Jensen said Dallas police detectives have told her they have a pretty good idea about the group that executed the attack, but haven't pinned down the specific individuals involved.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that several other attacks occurred in the area on the same day.
The Dallas Texas Mission of the LDS Church has pulled missionaries from the area for an undetermined amount of time.
http://www.harktheherald.com/dh/dhtoday
The news of the assault on Elder Burke Jensen came as a shock. Burke is now 20 and half way through his two year proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. I too served a Mormon mission, but I went to southern Brasil. When there were assaults on LDS on American missionaries in Brasil you could blame it on the feelings on the "All Americans are rich" misconception. The Brasilian assaults were neither right nor profitable, but somehow you felt sorry for the persons that committed the acts.
The current Dallas assault occurred right here in the USA. It is hard to get the horrible memories out of my mind as I was a young boy growing up in East Los Angeles where the Mexican gangs were so plentiful.... The Avenues.... The CP Boys..... Toonerville........ Frogtown to name just the ones in my school. There were many times that I had a group of Mexican gang bangers punching, kicking, and robbing me in the hallways of Washington Irving Junior High School. They inflicted bodily harm, they took my money, my basketballs, my baseball gloves, as well as any sense of pride. I didn't realize it at the time, but much of my young teenage years were spent living in fear of when they would strike again.
My bloody and painful Mexican gang experiences make it hard for me to feel compassionate for those that beat one of my Boy Scouts senseless with a baseball bat. I feel outraged knowing that Burke Jensen was in Dallas, Texas trying to spread Jesus' message of peace and love when the attackers struck. Missionaries are not rich, nor are they looking for trouble. Instead, they are looking for people to teach and help. There has got to be a place prepared in the farthest and darkest corner of the cosmos for those that mugged him.
I discussed this situation with my 10 year old daughter Jessica, and asked her why she thought our loving Heavenly Father would allow such a thing to happen. Jessica said that sometimes bad things happen to those that are trying to do good. She confidently related that Heavenly Father let the bad guys do it to show how bad they really are. She said that they could then be judged for their bad choices and actions.
It is interesting that I had planned to share the news story of the mugging with the MMM readership when I got a phone call from the leadership at Church saying that our local Channel 2 TV CBS news was at the chapel needing people to interview about our local reactions. They wanted me to come down and be interviewed since I was one of Burke's Scout leaders as well as the teacher of his Missionary Preparation class.
Being interviewed for a TV news story is a strange thing. They talk to you live on camera for 8 to 10 minutes with the hope of capturing 2 to 20 seconds of film to use in their story. The reporter asked the same question over and over in different ways trying to capture the It will be interesting to see if they use any of my footage. I gave them plenty of good soundbites and I think that at least some of the footage will make it in. We will have the video recorder rolling to capture the story.
NEWSFLASH - My footage did not make the final 5PM edit. This was much to the disappointment of my wife and kids. It turned out that they did not need my comments afterall. While the local reporter was getting our perspective, the Dallas reporter was getting Burke's mother's report. She provided the majority of the story in her own words and filled in a lot of gaps. It turns out that two men jumped out of a van in the middle of the afternoon. One had a gun and the other had a baseball bat. They beat both missionaries, but one quickly got away and called 911. The 2 men continued to beat Burke and stopped after they thought he was dead. No shots were fired. Instead, all of the damage was done by hitting, kicking and beating him with the bat. They got away with $30. The saddest part is that if they really needed the money they could have asked Burke for it and he would have gladly helped them out.
LATE NEWSFLASH - There I was!.... The 10PM edition of the story included my face for about 10 seconds. The family was screaming with delight.... There's Daddy!.... There's Daddy!!!
If you are the praying type, could you include Burke Jensen in your petitions to the almighty? Thanks.
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Hello & Happy New Year to You All,
I'm just back from a couple of days of Rest and Relaxation in Reno, Nevada. Business has been a little sporadic as it is sometimes in January. I try to take advantage of these times before the Spring Rush. Although last January turned out to be another record month for our business. What do you all do in your slower times? I love reading The Leavitt & Company Family fun times on the MMM. This is why we work so hard - for a better quality of life. There were a lot of slower times when I started our business five years ago but they don't seem to happen as often now. I was told when I was a new inspector to keep my other full time job until I physically couldn't do both any longer. It was good advice and I followed it. I kept that job until my business was almost two years old. Then when the work really picked up I had to make another decision; to either turn work away or grow our business. Notice I use 'our' business! We have just completed our fifth full year of business. It was a highly successful year. But there are still times when the market takes a dip or maybe is effected by increases or changes in other inspection companies in the area. We need to be prepared for these times. There are still business expenses to keep up on, even when we are not doing several inspections a day. Although, we don't keep other full time jobs any longer, we do fill in with other income producing ventures when the opportunities present themselves. Its real important to be aware of those opportunities. I like diversity in business and am real okay with other things to do in our business than just Whole House Inspections. In my short five years of working for myself I have watched many new inspectors fail because of unreal expectations. I think many of these see the inspection business as a glamorous part time job with full time pay: work whenever you feel like it for lots of money. When in reality it takes a lot of hard work and long hours to build and keep a successful business. Only the sincere, professional, top quality inspectors will make a real go of it. Which are you? But, the others will effect the market as they pass through.
Life is so Big if we just keep our eyes and ears open. There are boundless opportunities. I still have not had time to pursue some of the marketing/business ideas I've had for quite some time because other opportunities show up before I get to them. I'm happy to report that even after five years I still have some carrots dangling on strings in front of me that I'm reaching for. These are written in my goals. How many of you actually wrote goals like you were advised to do in your training?
(Another productive thing to do in slow times - Remeber to make them realistic!)
One thing several of us are working on now is plans for the Spring Conference. I may have given a date to some of you I have talked to lately. As I flipped to my 2001 calendar I realized the original date we had chosen included Easter Sunday. Oops. So the actual date of our Spring Conference is now April 7th & 8th in Portland, Oregon. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend. Like I said, several of us are working on this now. If you have ideas or input please don't keep them to yourself. This is your association, step forward and let me know what those ideas are. Some of you have expressed interest in helping with certain tasks in the association. Although there is not currently a job description written for the Executive Director I mainly perform the functions of operating our office, maintaining and growing the membership and arranging our conferences. Our 2001 President, Bill Schwahn will soon be setting up working committees to address certain tasks. If you are interested in helping out I'm sure there will be a place for everyone. Now is the time to let Bill know. Remember;
I'm off to Mazatlan, Mexico on January 27th for a real vacation. Ain't life great? Best Regards, Betty Buckley - AII™ Executive Director
I assume the panel we are looking at is the main panel and this is the main disconnect we are looking at. No jokes about assuming please. It looks like the grounding wire in the cable heading out the subpanel is not attached to anything. This would result in a properly installed subpanel being ungrounded. It is difficult to tell, but it also looks as if there may be copper and aluminum wires placed under the same clamp at the upper left of the photo. These dissimilar metals are required to be kept separate. Jon Gudnason - Placerville, CA
Well actually, I conveniently left a copy of one of your previous writings about the laptop and tripod on the counter about three weeks before Christmas. To my surprise was a laptop set up on a tripod next to the Christmas tree for little `ol me. :-) Now I just need to get used to carrying it from room to room. Glad to see all was well for you and your family. Happy New Year. Tom Skrodzki - Westfield, Massachusetts
I got a nice digital camera for my birthday the month before. It was very expensive, so I was not allowed any more expensive toys for Christmas. I did, however, get a nice carrying case for the camera on Christmas day. Jon Gudnason - CA
No inspection gear but a great Christmas Season with family and friends. Jim Corbin - Bow, WA
I got a totally cool Kodak DC3400 digital camera. Eric Smith - Corvallis OR
Greg, I do not inspect for rodents as a normal part of my inspection, I will however note if I notice evidence of rodents (as well as bats in the attic area), that evidence is normally limited to seeing droppings/feces and if this nest was in the insulation its hard to image how that would have been visible. Robert E Lee - Rochester, MN
Rats and their nests are not included. However, I do make mention if the evidence is visible and suggest discussing with the owners and/or contacting a certified operator for recommendations. Jim Corbin - Bow, WA
Scott Merritt passed this along for the readership. The photos come from a 120 year old Northern California house. If you haven't figured it out yet then look at the next photo......
DWV VENT CAP
I like this shot of the creative Harvey Homeowner's new plumbing repair after watching the latest Hometime on PBS.
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